Kármán shoes

Research and Discovery

My research focused on the shoe industry and better understanding shoe purchaser demographics. I looked at competitor brands, modern design trends, and the preferences of online consumers. Key findings included:

• Simplicity: Clean and minimal designs resonate with target audiences.
• Emphasis on Tech: Consumers are interested in the innovations behind the product.
• Digital Experience: A user-friendly and easy-to-use website is important to elevate success.
• Brand Storytelling: A compelling brand narrative can foster a strong connection with consumers.

Based on my research, I developed the following strategy:

• Brand Personality: Modern, simple, and natural.
• Value Proposition: To offer high-quality shoes that combine comfort and style.
• Key Features:
  • Clean and modern visual identity.
  • E-commerce website with a focus on user experience.
  • Detailed product pages with high-quality imagery.
  • Seamless navigation and checkout process.
  • Brand storytelling that highlights the quality and value behind the product.

The core concept was to create a brand and website that reflects a future-forward aesthetic, appealing to consumers who value both style and substance.

Prior and adjacent to my academic work at ACC, I have been a freelancer and found it useful to have a defined process that I could communicate to my clients (see side graphic). For this project, the design process included these stages:

• Planning and Research: Understanding the marketplace, shoe consumers, and digital trends and even well-established norms in this arena. This included competitor analysis, industry research, and brand research.
• Brand Identity Development: I started with sketches, then logo ideation, color palette, typography and design system, and visual style guide to establish the brand's identity. This included mood boards, typography exploration, logo design, and style tiles.
• Website Design: I designed the website's user interface (UI), focusing on creating an intuitive user experience. This included low, mid and high-fidelity wireframes, prototypes and testing.
• Visual Design: I applied the brand identity to the website design, selecting imagery, typography, and layout to create a cohesive and visually appealing experience.
• Prototyping: I developed an interactive prototype using figma to test the website's functionality and user flow. Much focus was placed on the checkout cart functionality specifically.
• Iteration: I refined the designs based on feedback and testing to improve the website's usability and visual appeal.

Final Outcome

The final result is a complete brand identity and a fully designed e-commerce website for Kármán sneakers. Key deliverables are:

• A complete brand identity system.
• A fully designed e-commerce website.
• An interactive prototype of the website.

The website is designed to be visually appealing, user-friendly, and effective in showcasing the Kármán brand and its products.

This project allowed me to explore the identity and visual elements of a shoe brand while also allowing me to focus on the user-experience possibilities with human centered design thinking executed into interactive prototypes. Next steps would be to continue user research with additional users (scale up) and develop and execute on a site an app launch plan, while measuring success metrics in terms of consumer awareness, brand loyalty, web traffic, usability feedback, and other elements of a digital strategy built on growth.